as expected, google has appealed the massive $2.9 billion ( antitrust fine that european union regulators imposed on the company this june.the eu general court will review the appeal, but it's not expected to issue a ruling for at least the next 18 to 24 months.reuters was the first to report on the appeal monday. a google spokesman separately confirmed it with eweek. no other details are currently available on google's arguments in its appeal.eu regulators fined google on claims that it abused its dominance in the internet search pace to promote the firm's own comparative shopping service site over that of others.further readingoperators of multiple online shopping sites had claimed that when users search for specific products on google search, the results would be dominated by links to products that companies had paid to advertise on google shopping.the complaints had noted that the manner in which google ranked results for product searches robbed other online shopping sites of traffic and favored paid ads over more relevant and organic results.in announcing the fine, the eu's commissioner for competition margrethe vestager said google's practice of playing up its own service denied rivals the chance to compete on innovation and merits. it also denied eu consumers freedom of choice and the full benefits of real online comparison-shopping, vestager claimed.the ruling gave google 90 days to change the manner in which it displays results for product searches conducted ...